The holidays are the perfect time for you to bake a festive cake for family or friends. There are many different designs and embellishments you could choose for your Christmas cake, but to achieve the best results in your decorating efforts, you'll have to prepare your cake for decorating first. After that, it's a simple matter to frost your cake to perfection and add finishing touches.

Steps

Part 1

Preparing to Decorate

1

Dye batter thematically. If you have an idea for a color scheme or a theme, like a Christmas tree, you may want to add a few drops of food coloring to your batter, or to some layers of your cake. You might dye your cake batter green to match a Christmas tree theme, or you could dye it red and green if your color scheme were Christmas themed.

A few drops of food coloring should be enough to thoroughly dye your batter, though you may want to use more or less to intensify or lighten the color.

2

Bake with festive cake molds. A quick trip the baking section of your local grocery might reveal to you a whole slew of festive baking molds that you can use. You might bake your cake in the shape of a tree, snowman, or Christmas present!

3

Allow ample time for cooling. A warm cake will not be a structurally sound as one that has cooled, and your decorating efforts might have an unintended impact. Also, the heat from a warm cake can make frosting melt, which will negatively effect your decorations.[1]

4

Chart a blueprint of your decorating plans. If you plan on writing a message in your cake, you should map out where you plan on writing the letters and practice the style in which you plan on writing. Letter spacing can be particularly difficult. You may want to make some extra icing and practice writing you message on a scrap piece of paper.[2]

If you're a beginner when it comes to cake decorating, you should make a fair amount of extra icing.[3]

If you find that writing with icing is too frustrating, consider using chocolate chips dabbed with frosting or nested in frosting to spell out your message.

5

Level your cake to make an even decorating surface. A sloping or domed top to your cake can be difficult to work with.[4] One smoothing measure you can take is to put the bottom layer upside down and use it as the top of your cake. This way its top surface is extra flat. If your cake is very domed, you can try cutting off the top with a bread knife.

6

Gather decorating aids. If you don't feel confident in your ability to freehand a drawing, consider using stencils. Place your stencil over the area you want to draw your design and sprinkle cocoa powder or powdered sugar to create an outline. You can use this outline to guide your decorating attempts. Some other decorating aids might include:

Chocolate chips (optional)

Edible glitter (optional)

Fondant (optional)

Food coloring

Frosting

Fruit (optional)

Mixing bowls (for frosting)

Nuts (optional)

Piping bag (or plastic baggie)

Scissors (for homemade piping bag)

Sprinkles (optional)

Stencils (optional)

Toothpicks (optional)

Part 2

Frosting Your Christmas Cake

1

Lay a cake drop cloth. Unless you are a steady hand at cake decorating, it's likely there will be some frosting drips while you put icing on your cake. To clean unsightly drips easily, place the corners of four pieces of parchment paper or wax paper under the edges of your cake. Since only a small amount of the paper is under your cake, when the time comes you should be able to pull each free from the cake along with any frosting that has dripped on it.

2

Use a crumb coat.[5] A crumb coat is a thin layer of frosting that's designed to "prime" your cake's surface. It will keep any crumbs on the surface of your cake from mixing with the final layer of frosting.[6] Once your crumb coat has firmed, your final layer of frosting should glide on smoothly.

3

Mix or buy your frosting and icing. You can make homemade frosting or icing, or you can purchase some from the baking section of your local grocery store. At some stores, you may be able to purchase piping bags prepared with frosting, which can be dyed by adding a few drops of food coloring and mixed well. A simple frosting recipe might include:

Frost your cake evenly and with patience. If this is your first time frosting a cake, you may be a little anxious. Take a few breaths and put a little frosting on top of the cake. Start with small portions and spread it slowly with a knife or thin spatula. As the frosting thins, take more from your frosting bowl, applying it little by little until your cake has a smooth layer frosting.[8]

You should avoid applying too much frosting at any given time during the process. If you put on too much, it can sometimes be difficult to spread out the frosting evenly.

You should frost the sides of your cake after doing the top, but before you add decorations and embellishments. This will help you achieve a more consistent look with your frosting.[9]

5

Buy or make a piping bag.[10] A piping bag is a hollow, flexible plastic cone that you can fill with frosting. Then, you can cut off the very tip of the bag and apply pressure to the plastic to make the icing come out in a steady stream.[11]

You can use a ziplock bag to make a simple piping bag. Make sure it has a strong top seal and put some icing in the bag. Seal the bag and cut off the tip of one of its bottom corners to make your own piping bag.[12]

6

Dye your icing according to your theme or color scheme. Separate your icing into different piping bags and use food coloring to change the color to fit your design. If you have your heart set on making a Christmas tree, you should dye some frosting brown for the trunk, green for the ornaments, and maybe red to give the tree ornaments.

7

Test your piping bag.[13] If you have cut off too much from the end of your piping bag your icing will come out in a thick stream or in globs, which might not be ideal for your planned design. If you cut off too little from the end of your piping bag, the frosting may come out in too narrow a stream or not at all.

You might consider testing your piping bag on a plate or piece of scrap paper before applying any to your cake.

8

Sketch out your messages before writing in icing. Beginners who are still mastering the art of cake writing might want to lightly draw the message beforehand in the cake with a toothpick.[14][15] This guide will help you limit mistakes while applying frosting with your piping bag.

9

Use creative writing techniques. Though cursive looks great when written with a piping bag, it might be a little difficult for you to attempt a full message your first try, but you may have better luck printing your message in dots.[16] You might also find that block letter or bubble letters are easier for you to draw with your piping bag. Try various styles on scrap paper before moving to the real thing.

Part 3

Decorating Your Frosted Christmas Cake

1

Border edges and designs with candy. You can bring out the border of your cake or highlight your main design with Kit-Kat segments or a trail of M&Ms. If you want to create a straight line of colored sprinkles, red and green as an example, first pour your sprinkles onto a clean piece of paper. Then:

Pick up the piece of paper in a way that cups the sprinkles in it.

Round the far edge of the paper.

Angle rounded mouth of the paper just above the area of the cake where you want your sprinkle design.

Tap the paper lightly with your fingers to jostle the sprinkles toward the rounded end of the paper.

Move your paper along the line you want the sprinkles, tapping your finger to slowly jostle more sprinkles off the rounded edge.

Discard your paper and any excess sprinkles when finished.

2

Choose Christmas themed accents. It has long been a holiday tradition to make gingerbread houses with the family, so why not add some gingerbread to your cake as a border decoration?[17] You could include some fruit flavored candy canes in your border to give a sweet edge to your cake.

3

Dust your cake with edible glitter.[18] This can add a magical touch to your frosted cake. The sparkle of glitter can give your Christmas tree design the impression of snow on its branches. Red and green glitter on your rich, luxurious chocolate frosting might tempt Santa away from his cookies!

4

Create a fondant design. Fondant is a decorative icing that can be molded into many different shapes and designs.[19]Mix up a batch of fondant and use it to make designs that match your cake's theme. Fondant can also be purchased in the baking section of most general retailers.

If you made a square shaped cake, you could frost it in a solid color and make a fondant ribbon to give your cake the appearance of a present.

5

Create a winter scene. The white buttercream frosting of your cake can quickly transform into a winter scene with a few additions. A few chocolate pine trees nested in your frosting can give some creative flair to your cake.[20] Marshmallows might become snowballs!

6

Give your cake a natural touch. The sweetness of fruit or the crunchiness of nuts can add a delicious contrast to your cake.[21] You can also use these to accent any messages or designs that you have already put on your cake.[22]

You'll want to serve a cake embellished with cookies or fruit within two hours, or else the cookie might soften and the fruit become mushy.[23]